Counting Stars
by RainKiss86
Summary: Violet Potter uses the Resurrection Stone and ends up falling in love with Regulus Black. When approached by the DoM to undertake a secret mission and go back in time to try and better preserve the Wizarding World she has only one condition, Regulus' soul is sent back as well. Time Travel, Rebirth, Marauder's timeline, Fem!Harry/Regulus Black Romance, OOC characters, AU.


1.

The Deathly Hallows were comparable to the Seven Deadly Sins, pick your poison, but no one was truly immune.

 _No One._

Least of all Violet Potter.

She still remembered the day she heard the story of the three brothers from Hermione in the Lovegood home when they went to confront Luna's father, Xenophilius, about the Hallows symbol he wore to Bill and Fleur's wedding. She was fascinated at the _mere idea_ of the Resurrection Stone. And later, after escaping from Tom's minions, she recalled the downright frightened looks on her best friends faces' when she spoke excitedly about how the second brother was able to actually live with the ghost of his dead lover... for awhile.

It was those disturbed looks that had the lie fall so easily from her lips after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Because Violet, mostly known as Vi to those close to her, _never_ dropped the stone in the forest.

She had snapped the Elder Wand without so much as a by-your-leave. The cloak was useful, incredibly so, and while precious to her and irreplaceable its true value -in her eyes- was purely sentimental. She loved the cloak because of the memories she made snaking around the castle with Ron and Hermione, and far more so because it had once belonged to her father, James Potter.

But the stone was a true treasure to the orphan girl who had lost nearly everyone she had ever loved.

She never would have just dropped it, even if she did believe she was walking to her death at the time.

Instead she slipped it securely into her trousers' pocket.

The aftermath of a battle is, in many ways, much worse than the battle itself. And while the stone was far from forgotten, there was _so much_ to do besides dwelling on it. Though there were times... especially just before or after the funerals of those she loved where the temptation was nearly to much to bare. She could call Fred back, summon Remus or Tonks by simply turning the stone, speak to Hagrid again, apologize to Collin.. Somehow, someway, she resisted.

It was one of the hardest things she ever did.

Instead she replaced the stone in the snitch where Dumbledore left it for her. There it was safe, only she had access to it, and almost always in sight. The small enchanted winged golden ball seemed to gain something of a personality over the year she spent constantly pushing magic into it trying to get it open. This is quite common, and one of the major dangers of enchanted objects, like Mr. Weasley's car for instance.

The first snitch she ever caught, by nearly swallowing it no less, acted more like a strange pet by that point than anything else. It was always fluttering around her head, or darting just out of reach, when she didn't lock it up in Grimmauld Place and leave it behind. So the stone was hardly out of sight, but still well hidden.

Eventually things calmed down to some degree. The funerals were held, awards given out, trials attended, Hogwarts rebuilt.. and suddenly Vi had nothing left to distract her but the nightmares of blood, death, and war that kept her up at night. The pit of depression, and feeling of 'what now?' that threatened to swallow her whole. Ron and Hermione returned to school, and tried their best to drag her along, but she just couldn't. The last time she had gone to Hogwarts war had followed her, and dozens of people - _children_ \- died.

She may not have been completely at fault for the war, she accepted that... kind of, but there was no denying _she_ had brought Tom down upon the school.

The thought of stepping back into the place she had always thought of as home after that tasted something like blasphemy.

So Vi shut her self up in her godfather's house, _her house_ , and worked her fingers to the bone beside Kreature trying to renovate the dark and musty place. The only two rooms she didn't dare touch, besides making sure the old elf knew to keep them clean, were the bedrooms of the Black brothers. She couldn't bare the thought of changing Sirius' room.. or Regulus' either.

After a month or two, when the first floor and basement were completely redone and she told Kreature they were taking a break for the weekend, the dark haired girl finally gave in to temptation.

She pressed her lips against the cool metal of the snitch and spoke softly, almost like speaking as if to a lover.

" _I am ready to die.._ "


End file.
